Category Archives: Restaurants + Bars

Post navigation

Lately I’ve been doing more comedy shows and trips but missing out on when I used to go to random music shows. In LA the Satellite had a fun cheap night of music (which I wrote about a lot here) and I really miss that. I decided to look up the calendar to the hippest+cheapest local music venue (The Ballroom on Treadwell St in Hamden,CT), and I picked out a random midweek concert to check out. I googled Adrianne Lenker, listened to her Spotify station and got tickets to her show for March 1st, 2018.

I for sure felt like one of the oldest people in the room, which I didn’t expect given the mature mellow songs that Adrianne Lenker and Henry Jamison (her opener) performed. I guess I anticipated an older crowd, but I was wrong.

Adrianne’s opener was Henry Jamison, who was really excellent. You should check him out on Spotify. He also has a song playing at Starbucks (or so he mentioned at the show). Henry’s stories between songs showcased what a hilarious weirdo he is, and I really mean that lovingly. He’s a quiet, chill, unique guy and I loved his antidotes.

Adrianne Lenker came out next. She was having some anxiety, as this was the first stop on her tour and she’d been living the last year as an introvert. One of the first things to happen as she took the stage was to have a guitar string snap as she was tuning up. Thankfully there were at least 5 visible guitars on stage with her so it was an easy swap out, although Im sure it didn’t help with her anxiety.

Once she started playing, she got back in the groove of things and she played beautifully and confidently. We got to hear a lot of new music that will come out later this year and she even let the audience tell her what to play as she closed out the night. Check out this link to see if she’s coming near you soon!

I’m new to New Haven, so maybe this is something you are all hitting up on Wednesdays, but The 9th Note has $2 off absinthe drinks on Wednesdays. And they also offer up $5 jazz, which means you can spend this cold night getting warm with discounted cocktails and jazz. Sounds like a fun hump day to me!

I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’ve been pretty quiet this week. While I’m no longer in Africa, I’m still technically on vacation. This week (cough Tuesday) happened to be my 28th birthday. I know, I’m so old I fart dust. It’s been a fun week of celebration.

On my actual birthday my friend Jess and I drove down to Westport, CT to explore. We took the Merritt Parkway out there (so pretty), hit=up West Elm (well, because it’s West Elm), and then meandered back along the coast. We even stopped off and found Martha Stewart’s former property (Turkey Hill, Westport). We stopped at beaches to walk around, and I got a tuna sandwich at Oscar’s Deli.

(Wandering around Westport, CT)

(The PEZ Visitors Center)

See, such a pretty day! We also stopped into the PEZ Visitors Center in Orange. How cool is that?! That make and package PEZ in CT and they built a beautiful visitor’s center, with games, puzzles, and a find-the-7-dwarfs pez dispensers to win a free pez holder and candy. IT’s a game everyone plays and wins. The price is $5, but comes with a coupon to use in the gift shop as well as the free pez at the end of the visit… it felt like we got back the $5 we paid. I highly recommend stopping in there!

For a special birthday dinner my parents and I went to Geronimo in New Haven. It was a great meal and the restaurant atmosphere/decor is a lot of fun. My mom made me a special birthday cake and then I crashed. I’m still on Africa time!

Yesterday I trekked into New York City on a Metro-North train. Met my friend Lily for lunch and then my friend Diana joined me for a walk along the river and High Line visit. I love that place, and they keep expanding it! It’s so fun at sunset to just walk above the city, free of cars.

Then Dot, Diana, Sally, Lily and I had a fabulous dinner at En Japanese Brasserie. Dot took the photo of me at the top of the post. These girls are the best 🙂 I took a sleepy ride back to CT last night and have been working all day today.

I hope to have some Africa posts up soon, I’ve just got a packed schedule here as you can see above. I’ve also got some friends and family to see while I’m on the east coast. I promise things will be back to normal soon enough.